Monsters Rule
by TobyKikami
Summary: Combo of Yu-Gi-Oh and Monster Rancher. Alternate timeline. Yugi and Bakura are zapped into the Monster Rancher world and decide to help the Searchers. Rex, Joey, and Kaiba soon follow.
1. Let the Games Begin

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This story takes place immediately after Dungeon Dice Monsters (Yu-Gi-Oh) and Melcarba (Monster Rancher). 

One: Let the Games Begin Yugi watched the screen as Monster Rancher 200x started up. Bakura entered the room with various refreshments. When Yugi turned and lifted his eyebrow, "Well, didn't you say Joey might come? Where did you get this game, Yugi?"   
"Grandpa."   
"Oh, I see."   
Yugi grinned. "He said maybe I should try something besides Duel Monsters." 

*** 

The Cabalos were gaining. Genki could hear their yammering over the noise of his rollerskates; once again he looked about wildly for a shrine. And this time there was one, just ahead. He looked to Holly, who jerked her head in a nod; she had seen it as well.   
"TORPEDO!"   
This knocked out a few in the front; more rushed to take their comrades' place. If Genki had been a few years over eleven he might have cursed. As it was, he pressed on.   
They clambered up the mercifully few steps, Tiger and Golem occasionally pausing to counterattack when the Cabalos were too close for comfort. Holly placed the disk in the appropriate spot. 

*** 

Yugi took out the game CD, then put in a random one handed to him by Ryou. When the screen prompted him, he replaced the Monster Rancher 200x. 

*** 

Holly cried, "Unlock!" 

*** 

The screen turned white, then shot out dark tendrils.   
Yugi was flung violently across stone; someone landed on top of him. As Bakura apologized and Yugi pulled himself up, he heard several exclamations of surprise. Yugi looked around and promptly made one of his own.   
There were two who looked somewhat normal- a girl around his own age, and a boy who was just about Mokuba Kaiba's. The others didn't look in the least normal- a pink something that resembled a penguin, a yellow thing with a single tremendous eyeball, a rock behemoth, a tall brown rabbit with a red bandanna, and a blue wolf with horns.   
The boy was the first to step forward, grinning. "Hi, I'm Genki-"   
The eyeball jumped in front of him. "In case you haven't noticed, we're in a situation here!" This statement was made even clearer by the vibrations of the door.   
Yugi crawled over to where his deck had been thrown and shuffled through, finally pulling out the Dark Magician. He held out his hand, the card in his palm, not quite sure exactly what he intended to do.   
The Puzzle glowed. The Dark Magician appeared, inciting more gasps. Shortly afterward, the door gave. A wave of more horned wolves- but these were purple- roared in, and he yelled, "Dark Magician! Attack!"   
The Dark Magician held out a hand and attacked. 

*** 

The world's colors seemed to swap for a split second, and Tiger of the Wind reeled backward; the Cabalos screamed and… shattered? Tiger blinked; by the time he was done with the blink the Lost Disks had already formed.   
And who had caused this? A human? Wearing purple armor and the most ridiculous hat he had ever seen?   
Genki decided it was time to commence the introductions. He pointed to himself. "I'm Genki-" the direction of his arm and his pointing finger changed "-and this is Holly. And here's Mocchi-" the penguin, "-and this is Suezo" the eyeball, "-and Golem, and Hare, and Tiger." Tiger nodded in response. His eyes shot wide open and he took another look at the kid Genki was speaking to.   
He looks like… like… I don't know what… just what happened to his hair?   
"I'm Yugi, and this is Bakura."   
"It's nice to meet you." Tiger blinked once again- he had never imagined that this "Bakura" might be a boy. 

*** 

"So we're looking for the Phoenix, so it can turn all the baddies into goodies. Even Mu," Genki finished his tale and leaned back.   
Yugi blinked. "Like a Monster Reborn?"   
"A what?" Yugi produced it after some more shuffling, whereupon Genki, Holly, Mocchi, and Suezo ran up and began to "ooh" and "aah" over it. Hare and Golem would have done so as well, but there was only so much space around Yugi. "But still," said Genki, "it only brings back one, right?"   
"Maybe," said Yugi, "but then, Dark Magician's only supposed to attack one at a time." He nodded toward the Dark Magician in question, who was staring off at a wall with an inscrutable expression.   
"So. You want to join up with us?" 

*** 

Mahaad had never been more confused in his life. At least back in Egypt he generally knew more or less what was taking place, even if it wasn't the most pleasant of things. But now… he had absolutely no idea what was going on.   
Yugi turned to him. "Dark Magician?"   
"Yes?" Yugi blinked, confused, and then Mahaad realized he had been speaking in Egyptian. "I apologize. What do you wish of me?"   
"You're real?" A nod. "Well, do you think we should go with them?"   
Mahaad couldn't help but admire Yugi's quick adjustment. "I will agree with whatever decision you make."   
Yugi turned back to Genki. "All right, if it's to save the world, I will."   
"YEAH!" Genki leapt into the air. "Let's go!"   
"Er, Genki?" Everyone looked at Hare. "Wouldn't it be more advisable to eat first?" 

*** 

"Of course!" Bakura cried. "The potato chips!" He ran about the shrine, gathering up the bags. "Oh, and here's a pack of soda, and candy bars- Yugi, I think there's one over there…"   
After a while everything Bakura had brought into the room was rounded up and taken outside for them to make camp. Yugi was grateful for Joey's prodigious appetite, as it appeared there just might be enough chips for everyone.   
It was right around then that the full insanity of what was taking place occurred to him. Here he was, sharing chips and soda with characters from the video game he had just been playing. It had to be a dream. Maybe Bakura had accidentally dropped the food tray on his head and he was currently delirious.   
… did delirious people wonder if they were delirious? No matter. He might as well make the best of it.   
Besides, maybe when he woke up he would wake up not only from the dream-sleep, but from the dream altogether.   



	2. Amber and Diamonds

AUTHOR'S NOTES: A big thank you for everyone who reviewed! 

Two: Amber and Diamonds "IT'S GONE!"   
Genki yawned. "Huh? Whazzat, Holly?"   
"The Magic Stone! It's gone!"   
_That _woke him up. "What do you mean, it's gone?"   
She held up the pieces of leather for evidence. "Someone just cut it right off."   
By then everyone else in the camp was awake, and had more or less processed what happened. Hare ran up. "Hate to tell you, but that's not the only thing that's gone. That Bakura fellow skipped out on us, and I'm willing to bet he took the stone."   
"You _would _know about that," Tiger growled, "wouldn't you, Hare?" He turned to Yugi. "Well, it seems your friend wasn't as trustworthy as we thought."   
Yugi quailed under his relentless gaze. "Maybe he's gone after the person who took the stone?"   
"Then you'd think he would've told us, wouldn't he?"   
Mahaad stepped between them. "You will not accuse Master Yugi again."   
Genki flailed his arms. "Tiger, stop it! Does anyone remember what direction the stone pointed to yesterday?"   
Holly indicated the direction. "North."   
"Well then, north it is! Let's go!" 

*** 

Yami Bakura consulted the green stone in his palm once more. The dark arrow still pointed directly ahead. He urged the Hyozanryu Ryou had intended to show Yugi onward; they were over forested mountains now, their presumable objective the even taller peaks in the distance.   
Hyozanryu was beginning to tire now; Yami Bakura could sympathize. He wished he had stayed long enough to snag some breakfast; he'd been spooked by the near-awakening of the Pharaoh and the girl (What was her name? Molly? Dolly?) when he was relieving the latter of the stone, and as a consequence departed with nothing for himself, let alone for Hyozanryu. He began to guide the latter down to the forest-hopefully there would be at least a fruit tree down there. 

*** 

Grey Wolf looked up to see what looked like… some sort of horned dragon? He blinked; it was still there, and coming closer. 

*** 

Yami Bakura stared at the trees; he consoled himself with the thought that there might be at least berry bushes or something. Maybe he might even find one of those Mystery Disks… At the thought the stone began to glow bright red. He frowned at that, then smiled. It seemed he might have just found one. 

*** 

Kohaku extricated the disk with some maneuvering of his claws. He turned a bit and stuffed it into the cloth tied about his neck; it was the same purple as his fur and barely noticeable, which was what he wanted.   
_ Now, to find a shrine. Which is harder than it sounds._   
He'd passed one a while back, and he'd have to backtrack to that one; Grey Wolf did not exactly encourage shrines. He supposed vengeance could wait just a little bit longer- it would be truly rotten if he lost and they found the disk… No, he couldn't think that. He hadn't come this far just to lose, to be reduced to the same level as Centaur…   
Then he happened to look up. And up. And up.   
The whatever-it-was (whatever it was) looked to be coming down, in the general area of Kohaku's location. He quickly turned and began to run in the general direction of the shrine; after a minute he stopped. Through the trees he could see the thing; it had obviously followed him. And it was getting lower by the moment.   
No visible Mu symbol, but that didn't mean he was in the clear. Once or twice on his southward trek (this was before Kohaku had realized exactly what he wanted and how he had to get it) he'd been attacked by agitated people- there were quite a few Cabalos in Grey Wolf's employ, after all. At least that fact had made his occasional deceptions all the more convincing. Or maybe the symbol was just affixed somewhere he couldn't see.   
Well, wasn't this just lovely… 

*** 

Yami Bakura nodded. "Good job." Hyozanryu craned up her neck and made an expression he hoped was a smile. He climbed off and consulted the stone; it pointed forward, this time with a golden arrow. He followed its directions, Hyozanryu behind him. After a time the stone glowed bright red again- at the same instant, he bumped into something above knee level and looked down.   
Yet another yellow-eyed purple wolf with horns looked up at him. "Oh," he said. "You're human. You're not working for Mu, then? Who is that?" The last question clearly referred to Hyozanryu. "A flying Naga?"   
"A flying what?"   
"You don't know what a Naga is?" The tone made it quite clear that he should know. "Who are you?"   
"For lack of a better name, call me Bakura. And she's Hyozanryu."   
"Actually, it's Diamant," a voice behind him corrected.   
He continued. "Diamant, then. But who are you? Do you have one of those disks?"   
"My name is Kohaku, and-" His eyes widened. "How did you know?"   
"I have my ways."   
"Don't tell me you're part of that slime that helps Mu because you want to-"   
"I have no intention of helping this 'Mu,' as I am human," Yami Bakura snarled, "and he apparently doesn't much care for humans. And I hope you are different from him in that respect."   
"I am."   
"Well then, what about that disk?"   
Kohaku frowned. "You think I'm going to hand it over just because you don't work for Mu?"   
"No, I think you're going to hand it over because until it's unlocked, it's dead weight. I doubt they would have much call for shrines around here."   
Kohaku's frown grew. "If it's dead weight, what do you want with it? And you know that's the case… but you don't know what a Naga is?"   
"Yes, that's right. I don't. Would you explain after I get the monster out from that disk?"   
"You are mad." He said this quite calmly.   
"Yes, I've heard that before. Will you at least give me an opportunity to prove myself?"   
Moments later, Kohaku had yanked a cloth from around his neck and let the contents out. In addition to the disk, there was a smaller cloth wrapped up about something and, to Yami Bakura's quickly concealed delight, food and a few gold coins. Kohaku gave him a warning look, and he took a step back. Obviously his impulse had been anticipated.   
Kohaku nudged the disk forward. "There, and if you try anything funny…" "I'll fry you where you stand," he didn't continue. It was understood.   
Yami Bakura picked it up and focused, fashioning a pick for the figurative lock. After a moment, he began to unravel the code, translating it into tangible form; he guessed the shrine did the same thing. Almost like the scanners that translated Duel Monsters cards into holograms in the arena. He'd gotten a good feel for the schematic of the shrine, and he used that information now.   
_ High-tech meets Shadow Magic… and loses._   
He dropped the disk, not wanting to end up trying to hold a Naga (whatever that was) in the palm of his hand, and unlocked the last pieces of the code.   
Kohaku yelled, "Get down!" He stepped aside, watching twin bolts of lightning clash in the spot where his head had just been. He judged there was enough of it to have made Ryou's hair stand on end, and that would have been the least of his problems.   
Diamant promptly tossed off something big and glowing into the trees; a number of the aforementioned trees were reduced to black smoking things. Screams definitely reminiscent of the Dark Magician's attack drifted from that direction.   
"I'll take care of them."   
Before Diamant could reply, Kohaku leapt past her and toward the screams, vanishing into the underbrush. Yami Bakura took the opportunity to look at what he had just unlocked.   
"And it just had to," he muttered, "be one I don't know." 

*** 

Hikaru called a retreat; the other Cabalos (the survivors, anyway) were only too happy to do so. From a safer distance (specifically, up a tree), he looked on.   
There was a white dragon (mostly white, anyway) with horns, a human (he guessed adolescent) wearing a gold pendant, and now, from seemingly thin air, there was a very young Pixie hybrid of some sort. He recognized the other half as Centaur after some thought. A Unico, he believed it was called. Approaching them… his eyes widened for a moment. A traitor? No, he didn't recognize this one. Some might believe Cabalos all looked the same, but he could tell the difference.   
"Good job, Diamant," said the human. "Kohaku, please explain what a Naga is. Would it be this-" he pointed to the Unico "-by any chance?"   
Hikaru was highly tempted to burst out laughing. What kind of a human had no idea what a Naga was? A stupid human, that's what, was the automatic response. He could see several of the others trying to suppress their laughter as well. He began to shift his position, getting a clear shot at the human.   
"No, not at all. That's a… I KNOW YOU'RE THERE!"   
He leapt out of the tree right before a Torpedo fried it, shooting off his own in midair. It collided with yet another, and now the human shouted "Diamant, show them how it's done!"   
The dragon obliged.   
Hikaru never had a chance to dodge. 

*** 

"It gets depressing," groused Suezo, "having to go the same way all over again…"   
"Suezo," Tiger shouted, "it's your own fault!"   
Hare joined in. "I know your command of Teleport is shaky, but this is a new low! You took us BACKWARDS!" He indicated the familiar-looking ruins ahead as evidence.   
Suezo whistled nervously. "Well, Yugi and his friend haven't had a look at this before! Look on the bright side, they get to have a look at it now!"   
Yugi shook his head. "I don't want Holly's stone to get even further away while we go sightseeing. We'd better hurry."   
"Um, maybe I could try it again?"   
"And have you take us all the way back to the other continent?" Tiger snapped. "Fat chance." 

*** 

"I would like something," said Yami Bakura, looking over the Lost Disks, "in return for our assistance."   
Kohaku glared. "I could've taken them."   
Lift eyebrow. "Right."   
"What he is trying to say," Diamant put in, "is, could you give us something edible? Please?"   



	3. Hello, Stranger

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Again, thanks for the reviews! 

Three: Hello, Stranger "Her name is Lia," said Kohaku.   
Bakura looked up from the potato. "Lia who?"   
Kohaku indicated the young Unico, who was quite calmly playing with some of the coins. "Her. 'S short for Julia."   
He returned to the potato, trying to pretend it was steak (Kohaku had informed him that the meat had been finished off a while ago). "Oh. Her. Well, I certainly don't have any objection."   
"And how did you know I had her disk?"   
Bakura smiled. "Persistent, yes? I'll tell you if you promise not to tell anyone else."   
"Tell me first. Then I'll promise."   
Bakura showed him the stone. 

*** 

Centaur was apparently able to suspend his disbelief to outrageous levels, as he took their explanation of why they had arrived again-not to mention the sight of Yugi's hair- quite calmly. He proceeded to invite them for lunch.   
"Sorry, but we can't wait," Genki told him. "Holly's stone could be a hundred miles off by now!" 

*** 

"Now," said Bakura, "promise. You said you would after I told you."   
Kohaku duly did so, though it seemed like a struggle. As he did, the Ring glowed and he took a step backward. "Don't worry, it's an extra precaution. Just in case you don't realize just how valuable a promise is. Now, I suppose I'll be on my way."   
Diamant had finished her share of the food; Bakura climbed on and they began to rise. "Oh," he yelled down, "and you had better find a better place to take her. I wish you luck in your ventures."   
Once high enough in the air, he checked the stone, focusing to create the dark arrow once again. Again, it pointed to the mountains. _All right, frozen bodies don't just up and walk off, so I can count on it staying there until I get to it. In the meantime, I'm not going to look for more of those disks. The last thing I need is a squadron of weak baby monsters trailing me about._   
_ Besides, I don't need a pretty pendant. I have the Ring._   
He flung it downward, then whispered to Diamant, who shot forward. 

*** 

Kohaku sighed as he watched Diamant and Bakura take their leave. They were right- he couldn't exactly have a baby looking on while he gave Grey Wolf what he had coming, could he? Not with so many other Cabalos that she could mistake for him… It would have to be put off again.   
The green stone landed before him; he looked up to see Diamant gone. A parting gift, he supposed. He would have called out thanks, but it would only call attention to them and Bakura couldn't possibly hear, anyway.   
He looked at her again; she looked right back with a solemn expression. If she weren't so small he would've thought her older than he knew she was. Not like the original Julia, who always seemed to find something to smile about. Then again, even she would be hard put to smile given the current situation.   
Julia… wait a second. Kohaku grimaced briefly at the thought of playing the supplicant, but Centaur had always liked children. They used to climb all over him; those who were able, anyway.   
Besides, you could depend on Centaur to stick by his code.   
"Lia?"   
She looked at him. "Yes, what is it?"   
"Climb on."   
It took a while before she understood what she meant, and then she nodded and got on. He picked up the stone between his teeth, and they were on their way southward. 

*** 

Somehow Centaur had convinced them to stay a little longer, long enough for some food (from where it came they had no clue) and for Genki to give a semi-coherent explanation of Yugi and Mahaad's origins, not to mention the reason for their hurry.   
"But if not just anyone can use the stone, and you already know which way to go," Centaur asked, "then you don't need to worry about it, correct?"   
Holly looked away. "I know, but…" 

*** 

Hikaru couldn't see when he opened his eyes; the blackened section of the forest might as well have been the sky, it was so blurred together. It hurt to move or try to move even the slightest; he couldn't move his legs at all. It hurt whether he moved or not. He held on out of instinct, knowing it served no purpose.   
It was over and he knew it. Soon he would be another nameless Lost Disk, kicked aside by impatient successors, a reminder of the fate of the unlucky and the weak.   
The question was: had he been weak, or had he been unlucky?   
He barely heard Grey Wolf's words the first time, and he certainly didn't understand them; not until his commander raised his voice to a near-shout did Hikaru realize what he must mean. He spoke then, best as he could, described the human and the dragon best as he could, told him the name of the renegade Cabalos, mentioned the baby Unico. When he felt everything useful had been said, he stopped trying to turn his neck to look up at where Grey Wolf must be.   
He felt no additional pain; if anything it went away. If he could speak, he would have thanked Grey Wolf for making it stop. 

*** 

Grey Wolf kept up the flow of electricity until Hikaru began to glow red, and then turned away, averting his eyes from the transformation. It wasn't fair. Granted, nothing was fair, but this was especially unfair. Some kind of monster he had never heard of, wiping out an entire unit with one blast… according to Hikaru it had been technically been two, but…   
He growled so low it was near-inaudible, and moved on.   
He knew Mu would not like this. 

*** 

They had been on the road for a while before Lia spoke. "What should I call you?"   
He put down the stone. "Kohaku."   
She contemplated this for a moment. "What does the stone do?"   
Kohaku opened his mouth to reply- and immediately had a coughing fit so severe not an understandable word could come out. After a while it subsided, and he stood there for a moment, taking deep breaths.   
"Are you all right?"   
"I'm fine. It-" More coughing ensued. "It's a secret, all right?" Obviously he was going to have to keep the promise. Don't tell anyone, and that meant everyone.   
Lia settled for this explanation, Kohaku picked up the stone, and they continued. 

*** 

"Well," said Genki, "we'd better get going if we ever want to find the Phoenix."   
Goodbyes were said, and they began out on the road. Mocchi screamed. "A baddie!" Genki squinted down the road. Indeed, there was a Cabalos running toward them… and what was that on its back?   
Tiger turned to him. "I'll take care of it." Before Genki could reply, he was off.   
The Cabalos evidently saw his approach and dodged off the road, yelling something at what Genki could now identify as a very small Unico. Said Unico spread her wings and leapt off, flying over Tiger's head. Tiger paid no heed to her, going straight for the Cabalos.   
The Cabalos evidently saw him coming and jumped. Tiger turned and fired a Torpedo; he twisted in midair and fired his own in response. They dodged in opposite directions; the Torpedoes did nothing but burn some patches of innocent grass.   
The Unico, in the meantime, had nearly reached them, and right then she began to shout. "Centaur! Centaur! Come out! Please!"   
Yugi blinked. "I don't understand. Why would one of Mu's monsters have a little kid along?"   
Genki contemplated that for a moment, during which he took another look at the Cabalos, then ran forward, yelling. "Tiger! STOP! It's not a baddie!"   
"How do you know?" Tiger yelled back, not looking at Genki.   
"Look at him! Do you see a symbol anywhere? Do you?"   
Tiger took a look, as well as a step backward. The Cabalos locked eyes with him. "In case you hadn't noticed, Tiger of the Wind, you're the one who attacked me."   
Centaur came through the gate, spear held high, then stopped. "Kohaku. It's been a while." Kohaku nodded curtly in response. Tiger let out a yell.   
"The Magic Stone!"   
Holly gasped. "What?"   
"He dropped it! See?"   
Tiger indicated the stone, lying in the grass. Holly ran over and picked it up, then turned to Kohaku. "Thank you for bringing back my stone. Where did you find it?"   
"It fell from the sky," he deadpanned.   
Holly laughed. "No, really!"   
Kohaku began to cough. 

*** 

Grey Wolf had gathered all the available Cabalos and looked them over. "Katsuya and Murasaki," he said at last. "Go to Mount Cairos as quickly as possible and deliver this message to Mu-" 

*** 

Bakura grabbed another bag of potatoes and hurried out to confront some unhappy purple things that reminded him of the tulip bulbs Ryou had planted once. Only these talked, and were far more annoying than tulip bulbs could ever be.   
"Diamant," he yelled, "destroy these purple weeds for me, would you?"   
Moments later there were five lost disks in a crater, and the others were backing off. Bakura whistled, and Diamant flew down; he jumped on, and Diamant fried some more of them who had attempted to attack before taking off once more.   
Bakura grinned as he sorted through the stuff in midair, waving at the angry monsters below. He tossed a piece of meat to Diamant, who snapped it up. This would certainly be enough to get them to the mountains, and probably back again, especially since they had cleared the forests. 

*** 

"There has to be some way to circumvent it," said Mahaad, as if by saying this he would all of a sudden think of that way.   
Kohaku had more or less recovered from his last fit. Yugi knelt beside him. "What exactly did you do?"   
Kohaku looked up at him. "I promised not to tell anyone about it."   
Holly snapped her fingers. "That's it! Centaur, do you have anything for writing?" Parchment and ink were quickly produced. "Kohaku, could you write it down?"   
He did so; it was a tedious process, as his claws were not exactly ideal for this purpose.   
S-A-I-D T-O C-A-L-L H-I-M B-A-K-U-R-A.   
Yugi gasped. "Bakura!"   
Tiger growled. "I knew it." 

*** 

Bakura looked at the mountains. They seemed a bit closer. "All right then, we're going down and starting up again tonight." Diamant complied, and he went to sleep very quickly. 


	4. Opened Gate

AUTHOR'S NOTES: As always, thanks for the reviews!   
Gijinka Renamon: Apologies, but I think the best person to write that character is yourself. You know your character better than I ever could. 

_"I've had it up to here with this honor stuff!"_   
_-Captain Salamander_   
_"Don't you worry. I once saw Joey play a video game for 3 days straight without blinking or nothing."_   
_-Tristan_

Four: Opened Gate "Hey," said Téa, "where's Yugi? And Bakura?"   
Joey shrugged and tore into another bag of chips. "Got the flu, I guess. Too bad. They're missing out on a great party."   
"Weren't you supposed to visit Yugi yesterday?"   
"Yeah, things came up. I called his grandpa; he was okay with it. Said he'd tell him. Say-what's that?"   
Near all the boys in the class were gathered in front of the Playstation-endowed TV, looking ready to tear each other apart. Tristan turned and answered Joey's question. "Raptor rented that new monster game. We can't decide who should play it first."   
"Shouldn't he do it, if he rented it?"   
"I mean who goes after him. And, who gets front-row seats."   
Téa ruminated on this for a moment, then began ripping a piece of paper into strips. Once this was done, she whispered to Rex, whereupon he nodded. She then took his hat and held out a bunch of the strips. "Everyone who wants to get closest, put your name on one of these and put it in the hat." This was quickly accomplished. "Okay, I guess that's everyone-"   
Whereupon Seto Kaiba approached her, delicately extracted one of the remaining strips from her hand, wrote his name, and dropped it in. "I'd like to have a look at their excuse for a game," he informed them. "It's not like there's much else to do in here."   
"Why that stuck-up-" Joey began, but was cut off when Téa grabbed his hand and stuffed it into the hat, then pulled it out and opened it, removing the clinging strips and handing them to Rex.   
She smiled sweetly. "Would you do the honors?"   
Rex duly read off the names. "Kaiba, Wheeler, Nozaka, Devlin…" The early birds in the crowd let out a collective groan as they realized all the names read were entered later and thus at the top of the pile inside the hat. This done, Rex shook out his hat and settled down to play, the chosen ones scrambling for their priority spots, except for Kaiba, who stood and looked on with his trademark lofty expression.   
"An empty canyon?" Duke remarked. "Oh, that's so exciting. I could get more entertainment watching paint peel."   
Joey shoved him. "It's the opening, ya moron! Whoa, look at that! It's like the freaky floating castle in OW!" The last word was effected by Kaiba stepping on his foot. "Why you-"   
Miho screamed.   
Joey jerked around and gaped. He could hear Téa shouting, "Everyone, get away from the TV! It's short-circuiting or something!"   
Then he heard Kaiba saying "What the-" and Rex completing that sentence with a considerably less tasteful word.   
The teacher said "Mr. Raptor!"   
Everything went spinning_. I must be getting a fever_, he decided, then pulled himself up to try and get to the nurse.   
He promptly fell (a rather long way, he felt) and crashed onto something cold and hard. Joey tensed for the sound of the TV glass shattering, and a tremendous amount of cash to be paid, but it never came.   
He heard Rex say the word again. 

*** 

Bakura jerked awake, kicking Diamant in the side as he did so. Diamant twitched, and he apologized. He grabbed a card and concentrated until he got what he wanted, then announced, "We're going now."   
Diamant craned her neck around. Her eyes immediately widened.   
Bakura smirked and adjusted Lady of Faith's headdress before bending down to return the shoes that had come with her outfit. "Don't worry, it's just a copy. She's still decent." He wouldn't have been caught dead in it normally, but it figured that Ryou hadn't taken a hat with him. 

*** 

Rex rolled to the side out of instinct; the giant hand barely missed him. He rolled back, grabbed his deck, and got to his feet, then dodged the hand again.   
"Raptor," Kaiba yelled, "what have you done!"   
"What do mean, what have I done?" Dodge. Kick giant finger out of sheer being-ticked-off.   
"Ah, how amusing."   
"I'll give you amusing, you- YEARRGH!" Joey Wheeler was lifted into the air by the other hand, this one clenched into a fist. "Put me down, you, or I'll-"   
The next moment he was falling and Kaiba was saying, "Not only are you a dog, Wheeler, you bite like one too."   
"Oh, shaddup," Joey retorted. "I didn't see you doin' anything besides running away."   
"That would be because I possess a most useful thing known as a brain."   
"KA-AI-BA!" Further arguing was cut off by laughter from the owner of the hands. Right around then, as Rex got his first good look at same, he decided Sir Robin didn't have the wrong idea. 

*** 

"Kohaku."   
"Centaur," he said without turning around.   
"You named the Unico after her?"   
"That's right."   
Celious and Dragoon had, for the occasion, cleaned out the glass and the dust. They had also put Centaur's library back on the shelves (some of the books had apparently gone missing, as shown by the gaps). If the lack of glass in the windows was ignored, one could almost pretend nothing had changed- until you noticed the Lost Disk on the floor. Centaur took a long look at it now, while Kohaku did his best to ignore it.   
"I take it you're angry with me." No reply. "Tell me, what should we have done?"   
"It wasn't what you did, that's for sure."   
"It is our custom."   
"I've had it up to here with customs."   
"You know, Captain Salamander said nearly the exact same thing at one time."   
"I'm no Salamander," Kohaku growled.   
"I know." Silence. "So you believe I am a hopeless traditionalist? Do you believe I'm obsessed with honor and ritual?"   
"You call serving that slime because of a rigged defeat the honorable thing to do?"   
"Yes."   
"…did you ever think he might've known you'd do that?"   
"Yes, he knew. He reminded me of it, actually."   
Kohaku, in his quest to keep from looking at the Lost Disk, took a look at the bookshelf. Specifically, at what was missing from the bookshelf. His eyes widened. "Your journals…?" A nod; Kohaku carried out a quick examination and determined what else was missing. "So in addition to being slime, he is also determined to be well-read?"   
Centaur smiled slightly in response. "I never thought anyone would want to read my journals."   
"So you were wrong."   
More silence. "Why Julia?"   
"How should I know? Why not you?" 

*** 

_ This is just crazy_, Joey thought. _We get zapped somewhere else and we don't even have time to figure out just what's going on before we get into this stuff and start running around some weird place and we don't even know where the exits are and now-!_   
Kaiba flailed his arms, or would have if they weren't held in place by several blue things that called themselves Jells, which were currently laughing their figurative heads off. Joey was strongly tempted to sock them, except for the fact that they seemed to be rather flexible and would probably grab his fist the moment he tried.   
What _were _these things?   
Rex made a quite loud throat-clearing noise, and when Joey turned to him, promptly shoved the Red Eyes Black Dragon into his hand. Joey flushed and gathered up the rest of his deck from where it had fallen.   
It seemed a bit stupid, actually, worrying about the cards when Kaiba was all tied up (okay, it was _Kaiba _getting tied up, but still…) and some freaky guy with pink fluffy hair was after them. Really, could the Red Eyes Black Dragon come to life and save their-   
_Wait a minute. _Joey again looked at the card, now imbued with new significance. _Hey, none of this is making sense anyway, so… it just might work. Come on, deck, Heart of the Cards, don't fail me now. C'mon, please, I need ya here._   
His request was answered. 

*** 

Mocchi was at first delighted at the thought of having a new playmate; this departed when it turned out Lia had little to no interest in the games he enjoyed even though she went along with them, whereupon he got Genki to play them with him instead. Lia occupied herself with some old puzzles Celious dug up; the fact that she wasn't close to solving them did not deter her in the least.   
Kohaku left an hour before the others. 

*** 

Awaiting a response when there was no chance it was coming anytime soon, Grey Wolf had decided, was one of the most boring things in the world.   
Certainly, Mu's plans were most likely in jeopardy, and judging from the fate of the Cabalos, he would probably be lucky to take the white dragon down with him. But that didn't mean he couldn't be bored until that happened.   
Katsuya and Murasaki had been sent on their way roughly an hour ago. He had ensured that they were well informed of the extreme urgency of their message, even if they had been too slow to figure it out for themselves. The normally lazy Katsuya had practically fled in the direction of Mount Cairos. When all this was over, he decided, he would have to make certain that Katsuya continued to show the abilities that thus far were only brought out when his hide was threatened.   
Grey Wolf had dismissed all the others, leaving him to his own devices. He knew the Cabalos used conversation to alleviate their boredom; he failed to comprehend, however, just what was so special about it. It was just talking, after all. He had no argument against their conversations away from battle, as long as it was understood that they would not try and involve him in said conversations.   
Back in the flying castle days some random Jell had unwittingly given them all a demonstration of why breaking that unspoken rule was not a good idea when he walked up and began yapping about the weather. Fortunately for the Jell, it managed to melt more or less back into the masses; after a time the ridicule subsided.   
Grey Wolf instead lay down, and began to dream with his eyes still open. It was a carefully orchestrated dream, done a thousand times over with slight deviation if at all, but he hadn't yet tired of it.   
As night's fall began he was still imagining Tiger of the Wind's demise. 

*** 

  


"Are we almost there?"   
Bakura dropped a candy in her mouth. "Yes, almost."   
Diamant, reassured, turned back. Indeed, a few more minutes and they would run right into the side of the mountain. Judging from all the activity, not to mention the flying castle (that had no small resemblance to the one of Dark Illusions) this was what he was looking for.   
By now he could see more walking purple tulip bulbs moving about. No sign, however, of what he was looking for.   
_ I suppose I'll have to do this the Shadow Magic way…_   
After a while, the Ring understood that he was not looking for the Puzzle this time around, and duly indicated a certain point on the mountain. Diamant immediately set her course. 

*** 

Making their way through (once they had extinguished the fire that had caught in Kaiba's coat when the slime-creatures were being fried) was much easier now, as Red Eyes Black Dragon simply fried down the walls in their way. Joey had found himself in the figurative driver's seat, perched on a spot at the base of the dragon's neck, and hanging on to said neck for dear life, sometimes looking back to confirm Rex and Kaiba were still following (the former dragging the latter). He observed still more strange creatures now, including but not limited to red-eyed rabbits with black and gray fur, green lizards with weird collars, winged red lizards with weird collars… Joey saw most of these as the Red Eyes nearly ran them over.   
Finally, another door was blasted and beyond he saw… snow? The weather here was probably skewed, he knew, but it was still a shock to see snow when just yesterday even a T-shirt seemed far too heavy. Oh well. No turning back now.   
Red Eyes turned and shot a fireball at their pursuers, then charged out into the snow, whereupon Joey nearly froze to death in the first ten seconds; at least the teacher had made him wear the uniform.   
There was a stone point in front of them, reaching out a ways ahead. No handrails. Joey looked down at the sound of footsteps. "Well, Kaiba? Ya got a brilliant plan in the works?"   
Apparently Kaiba was not as able to suspend disbelief, as he seemed to be reduced to sputtering, "What- how- that's impossible- how could you-"   
"I think a better question would be how did we get here in the first place."   
This galvanized him, in a way. "You," he snarled, turning to Rex, "you were the one playing that stupid game!"   
"Don't look at me," Rex yelled back, "it was a rental! Go sue the store if you want!"   
"Um, excuse me? I think they're catching up…" 

*** 

Bakura dismounted, and Diamant zapped a few more of the purple bulbs that had the misfortune to get in the way. After that, she turned her attention to the ice, firing at the spots Bakura indicated. Finally…   
The body of a tremendous dragon could be seen, trapped in the ice. Bakura knew this was it, but still, he was tempted to laugh. _What kind of all-powerful overlord has fluffy pink hair? _Then again, _he_ was the one in the dress.   
He worked quickly, enlisting some help from one of his Morphing Jars, and by the time he heard familiar voices there was only a void in the ice, which quickly fell in on itself. Nature abhors a vacuum. 

*** 

Kohaku practically flew through the forest, stopping perhaps once every hour. Sooner or later, he would have to reach the fortress, and then Grey Wolf would not be able to run away fast enough. 

*** 

Centaur looked to the north, to the retreating forms of the Searchers and their new friends, with an inscrutable expression.   



	5. Coming In With A Bang

Five: Coming in with a bang   
_"It's nothing. Probably just the wind."_   
_-Grey Wolf_

"We can't rest now."   
Katsuya, in spite of the situation, glowered at Murasaki while maintaining his pace. "Who said I was going to?"   
"You are my brother, and I know perfectly well when you think of it."   
"Which would be all the time?" He didn't even try to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.   
"Which would be all the time."   
"Sisters," he grumbled.   
They had left the forest by now, but their destination seemed no closer. Katsuya briefly wondered what the point was, when it would probably be a week at least before they even reached the foot of Mount Cairos. But they had to try. That was what Murasaki always said.   
His name was well known among the others. They didn't even try to keep their voices down because they didn't care if he knew; maybe they thought it would put some sense into him to hear what they said. Katsuya the slacker, constantly malingering, frivolous, only tolerated by Grey Wolf because he could exercise quite a bit of strength when he felt like it.   
He could be brave, too, when he felt like it. 

*** 

Using a dragon as a means of transportation isn't as enjoyable as it sounds, especially when one is in the middle of a blizzard, and the dragon has you by its claws because one's Blue Eyes wouldn't come out and someone else is riding. Seto Kaiba was grateful when he felt solid ground, and when Rex Raptor's Serpent Night Dragon finally let go. This gratitude ended when he pitched face-forward into the snow in a most undignified manner. Ahead of him, Wheeler was shouting. "Bakura, hey, Bakura! Is that you in that dress?"   
By the time he got up he could barely see where they had gone. After some squinting he detected the forms of the two dragons, the yellow of Wheeler's hair, and the red of Raptor's hat. He stumbled forward, nearly falling again several more times and putting on a repeat performance once.   
After he had stumbled again, making a resolution that this time he wouldn't get up, someone caught him and pulled him to his feet. "Are you all right?"   
He shoved the hand away and promptly fell. "I'm just fine." 

*** 

They made camp near the Ancient ruins, but not too near. Yugi and Mahaad understood the reason for this after Holly told them what had happened the last time they had been here. Hare slid the abacus beads around for a bit and announced that they had another day to go before they could return to the shrine.   
"We all knew that," Tiger snapped. "It's common sense." Whereupon another argument began.   
"So," said Genki, "what's with the cards?"   
Yugi began to explain. "Do the monsters here fight a lot?"   
"If you mean in coliseums, yeah, they do."   
"Well, Duel Monsters is a lot like that, only the monsters are in cards, and you can have around twenty monsters in a deck."   
"Twenty!"   
"That's the usual number, yes." Yugi looked through his deck and settled on Mystical Elf. "Do you see these numbers?" Nods from everyone. "Well, this number-" he pointed to it "-is attack points, and this is defense points. You can play monsters in two positions- attack and defense…" 

*** 

Kohaku gauged that he had been a mile or two past the ruins when he decided to rest a little longer this time. He lay down in a spot that wasn't as easily seen, and then his eyes closed (just for a little bit, he told himself), and then he didn't feel like opening them. 

*** 

Kaiba categorically refused to either continue to share Serpent Night Dragon with Rex or ride behind Joey. Diamant claimed she could only accommodate one rider. When he tried to summon his own dragon, nothing happened.   
Joey shook his head. "Kaiba, you're going at it all wrong. What you gotta do is actually believe it's gonna work."   
"Considering that all previous attempts have come to nothing," he retorted, "it is slightly difficult to believe it will work this time."   
"Exactly. That's your problem. If all ya do is tell yourself it's not gonna work, then you can't expect it to work, can you?"   
"Don't tell me what to do!"   
"Let me correct that. If you don't tell yourself it's going to work, and do it now, I think that army's gonna catch up in a couple of minutes."   
Kaiba turned. His jaw dropped. And the Blue Eyes White Dragon materialized before him, promptly blowing away the first few lines of attackers. 

*** 

After Yugi finished explaining how to play Duel Monsters, he showed them his deck, and they all did much ooh-ing and aah-ing over it. Genki suggested they get all the others from their cards as well. "I mean, it must be really boring in there, and besides, if they're anything like Mahaad then they can help us beat the baddies!"   
Hare objected. "It's simple mathematics. With twenty new members, the amount of food we need will quadruple, and we'll starve to death before we ever get close to the Phoenix! Not to mention, it'd be much easier for them to spot us if there were that many!" Genki had to reluctantly agree.   
"Well," said Holly, "we'd better get to sleep." 

*** 

Rex looked over his shoulder. "It's moving! This way!"   
"Oh great," Joey grumbled, holding on even tighter to the Red Eyes. "Just what we didn't need."   
"I think it's shooting, too."   
"What the-?"   
"Get DOWN!"   
Joey turned to see Serpent Night fall a good ten feet, just in time to miss the crackling ray that proceeded to nearly clip the Red Eyes' left wing even as Bakura on Diamant veered to the right.   
"Kaiba-" he shouted.   
Kaiba whispered something. The Blue Eyes whirled to face the ray, shot out a White Lightning, then dropped as well, presumably to avoid the resulting explosion.   
Joey was nearly flung off; he hung on to the neck, and he was sure he'd nearly strangled the dragon by the time he felt safe enough to slacken his grip a bit. He looked up, then back down as another White Lightning roared overhead, with another explosion sounding behind him shortly after.   
"He got the shooter," Rex again.   
"Excellent aim, that," Bakura called.   
Kaiba still spurred the Blue Eyes on to attack again and again. Crackling electric spheres crashed into the underside of the flying castle, into the platforms…   
Joey turned Red Eyes around and it let out some more fireballs, creating even more smoke and making him unable to see how much damage he'd caused. Then Rex had his own dragon add the Nightmare Sonic Blast to the mix. Finally, Bakura told Diamant to join them. Once another ray emerged from the cloud that had grown up around it, but Kaiba immediately countered that and pounded the location from which it came without mercy.   
"Pull back," Bakura called. "Wait for the dust to clear, see how much you've done first!"   
Joey obeyed immediately; Rex and Kaiba did so as well, albeit reluctantly. After what seemed like an eternity (though it couldn't have been more than a few minutes) the dust cleared.   
Granted, their apparent goal, to transform the flying castle to a grounded pile of rubble, hadn't succeeded, but it looked considerably less imposing now. A few of the smaller buildings had apparently been demolished.   
"Everyone," said Bakura, "I propose we quit while we're ahead."   
"What-! Joey Wheeler doesn't quit!"   
Kaiba looked askance at him. "Joey Wheeler is also a moron."   
"Why you-"   
"It's heading back," Bakura cut him off. "We had better go."   
Rex shook his head. "And let them fix it up and come back after us? I don't think so! Serpent Night, attack!"   
The dragon complied. Joey let out a whoop and followed. They proceeded to harass the castle all the way back to its resting place in the mountain before finally turning back and heading toward what was presumably south. 

*** 

"Murasaki- what's that? In the sky?"   
She developed her typical we-don't-have-time-for-this expression at Katsuya's words, but she looked up anyway and gasped. "It's an explosion, I think. We had better hurry."   
"I thought that was what we were doing."   
"Mu could need us."   
"Right. Mu the all-powerful needs two Cabalos, which, in case you forgot, can't fly. If you say so." 

*** 

Mu was not in the least happy. Anyone who was happy when their trademark flying castle had just been reduced to a flying pile of rubble had had something put in backward regarding their sanity.   
A rescue mission had been organized, and the remains of the buildings were being carted off. They found quite a few Lost Disks tangled in the debris; these were carted off for Mu to resurrect when he felt like it.   
Right now he did not feel like it.   
It wasn't just a matter of reviving them without a second thought. It took approximately a hundred times more energy to revive a single Lost Disk than it would have taken to create said disk. Therefore, he had to choose wisely. He had quite enough sycophantic but generally useless flunkies without bringing back all the dead ones.   
Of course, there were some survivors; otherwise there would have been no point in a rescue mission. Those survivors had been taken to the infirmary that had been put up yesterday, and as he entered, Mu noted that there was obviously far more than had been expected. It had been assumed that the one on the castle would take up the slack in the event that there was any. As it turned out, the surviving invalids had to be transferred here, instead, along with several members of the medical staff.   
A squad of Evil Hares stood up against a wall, and a wall of mostly-unconscious monsters was stacked in front of them like so much firewood, keeping them from collapsing. More knocked-out Zuums lay on top of Jells in puddle form. It was so crowded Mu had to wonder exactly how what was left of the staff would deal with handing out medicines. Hold lessons in hand-eye coordination, perhaps?   
There was a line of the monsters that could stand, leading up to an extremely harassed-looking Angel wearing a Captain's helmet and a red ribbon pinned under her symbol. As he looked on, she took a bottle of something or other from her assistant, then shoved it at a Salamander. "Take that for three days, take a snake at the end of that, and don't come back unless you've broken something. Now get out." He got out. She scrawled something in her ledger, then turned to the next in line, an Evil Hare.   
"Medical Captain Angel."   
She turned and bowed. "What do you wish of me, Master Mu?"   
"You requested a transfer to the main army last week, correct?" A nod and a glance at the monsters still in line; the latter knew better than to interrupt. "The transfer is granted. You are now a specialized warrior, and I'm promoting your assistant to your former position. She can write, correct?"   
She nodded, then took off the helmet and threw it at the Allure, who, to her credit, asked no questions and immediately put it on and began attending to the Evil Hare. "Thank you, Master Mu. What is my first assignment?"   
"Details would be better given elsewhere. Don't you agree?"   
"I agree." 

*** 

"Bakura?"   
"Yes, what is it, Joey?"   
"What're those purple things down there?"   
It had grown dark; Bakura had to squint a bit to see what Joey was referring to. "I think those are called… Cabalos, I believe."   
Blink. "How'd you know?"   
"I think I met one of them once, and-"   
The twin howls came as a complete surprise, and Bakura nearly fell off Diamant. "This can't be good," he muttered, then called to the others, "Pull up! Quickly!" 

*** 

"They're coming from Cairos, to the fortress," said Murasaki after she was done with her warning. "You go on and give the report. I'll stay."   
"I can't!"   
"You will."   
The voice was faint but understandable. "Pull up!"   
"But-" Katsuya began. She showed her teeth. He backed off and began running towards Cairos, towards the dragons.   
As he passed beneath them, they began to rise higher. _Oh no you don't!_   
Her attack caught the white dragon in the neck; it jerked and the human (who also matched the description) nearly fell off. If only. She immediately attacked again, then repeated, not letting up…   
Until another blast flung her she didn't want to know how high; it was only by great luck (if you could call it that) that she didn't break her neck when she landed. Instead, she broke a leg.   
"Kaiba, stop this immediately! Two on one is hardly fair play."   
"It attacked us."   
"No, it attacked me."   
"You're wrong, it attacked me."   
"Sorry, Diamant."   
"It was nothing."   
Murasaki did her best impression of being at death's door; she observed two of the dragons (one of them the one she had shot at) land, the other two circling above. She began to concentrate, waiting for just the right moment to at least be able to do something of use.   
It came as the white-haired human turned to argue with his brown-haired counterpart.   
The dragons all cried out at the same time as the human, who fell to his knees and then completely down. Murasaki fired another at the second one, who barely dodged. Murasaki herself had to roll to the side moments later to avoid a swinging tail, her broken leg protesting strenuously at this treatment. It protested even more when she pulled herself back on her feet just in time to fling herself back down and dodge another attack. 

*** 

Katsuya knew not to look back. If he did he would have to stay and help, and if he stayed and helped then Mu would never be warned in time. Assuming, of course, there was still time…   
He hadn't known he could run this fast.   
Then again, he had never tried to run this fast before.   



End file.
